My Mamaw is on vacation, and we are watching her dog. It is actually my mom’s dog, but she lives with my Mamaw because our fence is short and our neighbors have a pit bull. We brought her from Mamaw’s tonight and she met our cats. I wanted to put all of the pictures on my blog, but instead, I have this. My mom made it for me. You have to watch!

Matthew will be back soon after Christmas, but for now, here is the status on his room following The Great Debate, from my blog.

Matthew’s mom

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So about nine million years ago, The Boy and I squared off on the issue of his messy room. You all voted and gave very well thought out suggestions. All big improvements on my approach to dealing with his pig sty of a room, which was banging my head against the wall and muttering obscenities under my breath. Before I post the pictures of what his room looks like now, I want to address a few things.

Many people noted that there was a lack of proper storage space in his room. Ah, but that is not so. All storage options were buried in his filth…..and you will see that in the new photos.

Many people mentioned that it was too overwhelming for him to be expected to clean on his own. You would be right. The Boy has never ever (Never in his life. Never ever ever. Did I mention Never?) cleaned his room on his own. That was my beef. I was at my wit’s end with helping him clean up his room, only to have it look like a hurricane hit it a day later. When the first set of photos were taken, it was only a week or so after his room had been gutted and cleaned top to bottom to fit in that evil futon. Which brings up another point mentioned….yes, his room is a wee bit crowded. That was his choice. He wanted that futon, that had been living in a box in the garage, in his room in the worst way. After a full 4 hours of assembly (the manufacturer had included the wrong bolts), and another couple hours of furniture Tetris, is was in. He was happy. He began calling his room “The Lounge.” The creation of “The Lounge” was part of his birthday present. We painted his room and hung posters as well. But still, a few days later, the filth returned to “The Lounge.” We needed a way to get The Boy to keep his mess at a manageable enough level for him to clean up himself.

So? What does his room look like now?

Look! No filth! Are you admiring my fantastic leopard print jammies?

And Look! Storage!

Quite a difference from this, isn’t it?

“The Lounge” and its host….

It’s been about a week, and the room still looks pretty close to what you see in the pictures. Why, you ask? How did we convince him to keep it clean? Well, both The Boy and The Girl were told that not a single present would be opened on Christmas morning if their rooms were not clean. While this is working for the short term….then what? Well, we have purchased a present for The Boy….one that he desperately wanted….one that I have been dragging my heels on……That present? Will only be accessible to him when/if his room is clean. Period. Will it work? We shall see. But for right now, I am going to go hang out in “The Lounge.”

Dear Santa Claus:

How are you? How are your reindeer? Are they well fed? I have been half good and half bad. I hope I am not on the naughty list. I have plans to try to be nicer this year, to my sister and everyone that I have been bad to.

I would like a motor scooter, please. I would also like a Nintendo DS with the game, Catz, please. I would also like the MD-80 pc game that I have always wanted, please. I would like a Motorola Buzz walkie talkie phone, with the moto ring tone, please, please, please. All of the rest of the Matchbox airplanes, please. I would like a disk that can fix my computer, then put on internet access with Firefox, please. And everything that I’ve always wanted but forgot what they were.

I would also like my mom to have everything she ever wanted in her life. I would also like Bana (my step-dad), to have a truck just like our neighbor’s, but dark gray.

Sincerely:

Matthew

The Issue:

As long as kids have had rooms, a battle has been raging. Parents versus kids. Parents want kids’ rooms to be clean (or at least not a health hazard). Kids want the right to keep their space how they want it (to wallow in their own filth). Will a peace treaty ever be reached? We’re looking for your thoughts and opinions? What are the rules at your house? Please take take to a minute to weigh in, because your vote counts. On Wednesday, the votes will be counted. If more people voted that kids should be able to have their own space, then Matthew does not have to clean up his room. If more people vote that messy rooms are not acceptable, then Matthew has his work cut out for him. A mess like that could take hours (if not days) to undo.

Voting is not to be taken lightly. It is important to do your research. Read Matthew’s viewpoint (his first attempt at a persuasive essay, making it a cleverly disguised homeschool assignment) below. View the room in question. Read Mom’s viewpoint. Leave your vote in the comment of either blog. You do not have to leave your comment on the blog of the person you agree with. You may comment anywhere. Don’t forget to ask your kids, lest the outcome be tainted by an adult only vote. Vote away!

The Room in Question:

Can you spot Matthew in this room? He’s in there…….

Find him yet?

Matthew’s Side:

Making kids clean their rooms is downright unfair. Cleaning rooms is so hard. Kids should have the right to have their own space to do what they want. Even though it’s in an adult’s house, kids should be able to share a piece of the house. Kids would be happier if they didn’t have to clean their room. It does not hurt anything to have a messy room.

Cleaning rooms is hard because it is always too messy to get things to the place that they go. Cleaning is hard because it takes too much time. Time could better spent doing hobbies or playing with other people.

Kids should be able to have their own space to go to when they are bothered. Kids should have a right to keep that space how they want it, because it is their space. Kids need to feel like they have something that belongs to them.

Parents like to see kids happy. Kids aren’t happy when they have to clean their rooms.

A kid leaving their things out all over the house is hurting something, but leaving the mess in their room, is not.

In conclusion, most kids think that being made to clean their room is unfair.

Go to Mom’s side.

Our Tree Brains shirts came today! Don’t know about the Tree Brains? Look here and here.

I’ve decided I play the banjo and sometimes the bagpipes in the band.

I’ll have a new interview up tomorrow!

Oh yes, he was. Take a look.

Done by Tracey from Yeah, My Foot….err…Nibbles, the bear.

I was tagged for a meme by Angel.

The instructions:

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog at the bottom of the list:

Sleepless In Cologne
Spaghetti Harvest
Mommy’s Getaway Blog
Adopt Two Boys
They’re All Our Children
In the Air

Here are the questions -

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was being made in my mom’s stomach.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
Playing with my friends in Colorado.

Five Snacks You Enjoy:
Nestle Crunch Bars
M ‘n’ M’s
Chips and salsa
Watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe
Popcorn

Five Songs That You Know All The Lyrics To:
We Will Rock You by Queen
One Way or Another by Blondie
The theme to Spongebob Squarepants
The theme to Drake and Josh
The theme to Jimmy Neutron

Five Things You Would Do If You Were a Millionaire:
Buy a bunch of cats and rabbits
Live in a mansion
Own all types of aircraft
Own a five star restaurant
I would give money to everybody who is poor

Five Bad Habits
Staying on the computer too long
Leaving my room a mess
Picking on my sister
Staying up too late
Teasing the cats

Five Things You Like To Do
Ride my bike
Play on the computer
Play with my cats
Play with my friends
Watch the Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again
Diapers
Tighty Whitey underwear
Baby clothes
I can’t think of anymore…

Five favorite toys
Bike
Airplanes
Razor Pocket Rocket
Computer
My horse spirit

I tag – Sarah at Freak Like Me, Terroni, Shelby, Kelly from Diary of the Nello, Rachel from Confessions of a True Jersey Girl, Joanne, at Cutest Baby Ever, and Jeff at Behind the Soda Fountain (if you do stuff like this).

This is a seed I found in my watermelon at a BBQ at my house on Easter. See the smile? I named him Heck-bert. He has a hair too.

Click on the link to see him closer.
seed-002.jpg

A few weeks ago I went to the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, CA with my family. I liked it there. We were supposed to go to San Diego but it was pouring down rain. My mom didn’t tell me we were going to the Planes of Fame Museum until we got there. I got so excited when I saw it.

We looked at all of the airplanes. You can pay money to ride in some of their planes. Somebody was taking a ride in one that day. It was a Mustang. We saw it take off. It kicked dust in every body’s face because everybody was standing too close. We also saw a full-size replica of the Wright Brothers’ plane.

When I was so amazed looking at the planes, my sister was kind of bored, because every airplane we looked at she was like, “yeah, whatever.”

When we got to the gift shop my mom said to me “Woah, look at this fight jacket, Matthew.”
But I wanted the navy air force flight suit. I got a 2006 calendar with a lot of the pictures of airplanes I like, including an AirCanada airbus A-321.

The Planes of Fame Museum was so, so, so, cool.

This is my report for my homeschool about the museum.

Planes of Fame Museum
By Matthew
February 13, 2007I went the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino on February tenth. I went with my mom, Bana (my step-dad), and my sister, Sophie. The Planes of Fame Museum was founded in 1957. It has over 150 different airplanes. I wanted to go to the museum because I am in love with airplanes.
I saw many, many, many cool and interesting things there. At the museum, I saw a tri-plane. It looked like the Red Baron’s plane. We saw a full size replica of the Wright Brothers’ plane. They had a model of Amelia Earhart’s plane. I got to go inside a B-17 Bomber. They were used in World War II. The museum is restoring it and fixing it. They had a ton of navy planes. They had slanted tails to go fast. They make the navy planes to have their wings fold to save room on the aircraft carriers. They had a little King Air-looking aircraft that was for passengers like executives. You can pay to take rides in some of their aircraft. It was very, very fun at the Planes of Fame Museum. I think other people should go to the museum.